Japan Worksheet-To be handed out to class
This should not be specific and you should use something else with more detail when presenting to the class. Please format your section like the rest.

Perry "opens" Japan: 1852
· Commodore Matthew C. Perry delivers a message to the Japanese Empower from the President asking for fair treatment for American soldiers and the right to provision ships at Japanese ports.

Meiji Restoration: 1868
Drastic reforms were carried out to "westernize" Japan
Religous freedom: 1873
Educational reform
The military was remodeled after Prussia and Britian
New currency system
European style constitution in 1889

First Sino-Japanese War: 1894-1895
  • fight for control over Korea between the Quing dynasty China and Meiji Japan
  • Both sides sent troops to aid Korea against the Tonghak rebellion, 1894
  • Japanese troops seize Korean emperor and establish a pro-Japanese government, July 1894

Russo-Japanese War: 1904-1905
  • Port arthur and surrounding waters are leased to Russia
  • Japan attacks Port Arthur on February 8, 1904
  • Battle of Tsushima, May 1905
  • Treaty of Portsmouth, September 5, 1905


More aggression towards China. Expansion in Manchuria and the Puppet state of Manchukuo is organized:1931
  • In the 1920s, much of Japans population is still wanting to expand their territory
  • After WWI Japans industry and trade had expanded, yet most of the materials needed to supply the Japanese manufacturing industry had to be imported.
  • Since China was torn by the revolution of the 1920s, Japanese Militarists viewed China, and in particular Manchuria as a place to expand.
  • Chinese Nationalist party tries to unite all of China, including Manchuria.
  • Japanese military extremists dominate Japanese government, act without authorization, and eventually seize Manchuria.


Second Sino-Japanese War: 1937–41
· A conflict between the Japan and China
· Allowed the Communist party to defeat the Nationalist Chinese government.

WWII: 1941
· Japan begins invading its neighbors on a large scale to create the “East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere.” The territory includes China, Southeast Asia, and Pacific Islands.
· On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the U.S.

Japanese Defeat: 1942-45
· Battle of Midway: change in momentum
· The Allies attack Guadalcanal, Formosa, and the Chinese coast, which were all Japanese territories.
· After a series of battles in the Pacific, Japan had been badly injured.
· Japan's situation was dire in early 1945: Kamikaze.
· Iwo Jima and Okinawa are taken.
· Atomic bombs were used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and on August 14, 1945, Japan announced its surrender.
· Japan’s imperial age came to an end, but they were allowed to keep their Emperor.